Sunday, July 28, 2013

Yeah, I got nothing to say as a overly long winded intro that only serves to give a brief description of what is going on in my largely uneventful life. And so I'm here to review an anime that I first heard about from my broth yesterday, and we spent almost all of the day watching all 13 episodes. Good thing too, because otherwise I would have been at a lost as to what to talk about seeing as I haven't beaten Shining Force III Scenario 2 yet. Anyway, on to an anime about a boy, his robot, and a Kevin Costner-less water world.

Like I usually do, I ranted on reddit a lot yesterday. Except this time, it was suggesting a lot of classic anime to some dude who wanted classic anime suggestions. Since I couldn't just let that fall into the aether of reddit, like everything does, I wanted to post it here. And since I have no pretense of professionalism, it's fine with me. Even if I did have a pretense of professionalism, it's since gone from my old and poorly written posts.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Every moment of combat in Pacific Rim is the visceral, heavy action that makes the climaxes of Gunbuster or Getter Robo Armageddon so satisfying; the enemies have the body-horror surrealness of the Invaders or STMC, the machines are breakable yet visually heavy and powerful. It captures well the ritual and tradition of its genre - the launch sequences that take the real-world idea of preflight checks and turn them into elaborate mechanical ceremonies to venerate incomprehensible technology.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Several years ago, I wrote , discussion the value of (Choujikuu Yousai Makurosu = Super Dimension Fortress Macross) as a science-fiction drama.If you've already read that post, please bear with me because I'm going to cover some similar ground.

My discussion of Macross inevitably begins with Robotech.For many Generation X'ers who were children during the 1980s, including myself, our introduction to Japanese (anime = "animation") was through the various work of Carl Macek (who passed away in 2010).Macek is either a hero or a villain depending on to whom you speak.While Macek did a lot to bring to North America and other Anglophonic countries, this often required mash-ups, heavy editing, and sometimes even complete and total rewrites of entire series.The most notorious (and, indeed, his first big) project was Robotech for Harmony Gold, which took three unrelated anime, (Super Dimension Fortress Macross), (Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross), and (Genesis Climber Mospeada), combined them into three consecutive generations and changed names, dialogue, and even edited out certain scenes in order to make the show more palatable to an audience primarily composed of American and Canadian children (and possibly their parents).

While a lot of people just sat down and watched Star Trek and Star Wars, my love was always SDF Macross.Perhaps it's a stretch to say that Macross is bigger than the other sci-fi series but to me Lynn Minmay and Hikaru Ichijo meant more to me than any other romance story on TV.

Of course the actress Mari Iijima played Minmay as a voice actor and singer/song writer.For her to simply make this series a musical as well as action sci-fi broke all barriers.First, the geeks loved her and the girls loved her songs.The men loved the mecha and the explosions that put Star Wars to shame.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

I've made a list of the anime I want to recommend, both from looking at my shelves and asking Ben what good recent shows I've missed. At one post a week, it'll last me into next year. And that doesn't include occasional posts on things that are currently airing. But I've also hit a snag: some of the things I want to recommend are out of print or tied up in license limbo forever (hi, Macross). There are ... ways ... to get around that, but I'm not willing to discuss them here.

I've taken the posts wherein I've recommended anime and turned them into a , which I will update weekly(ish).

See that pic above? The accompanying dialogue has the soldier asking, "how old are you?" The little girl answers, "two." Thenthey're vaporized onscreen. That's just how "ROBOTECH" rolled. It was one of the few cartoons I watched religiously and it was unrelenting in who it would kill off, sort of like "Game Of Thrones" for 5th graders.

Thinking back on the series I'm impressed with what it got away with. Human on alien sex and the resultant offspring (the Zentraedi aliens from the first 3rd of the series were humanoid - they just needed to be shrunken down a bit - but still), the death of key protagonists. Murder. Betrayal. Oh, and the destruction of almost the entire human race (only 70,000 survivors). And that's just in the first third of the series!!!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Fellow blogger and genre fiction aficionado, John Kenneth Muir compiled another top ten list for his . This time he was asking for the greatest characters in science fiction films. He asked readers to submit their votes and rank them. The results were published and may surprise you.

Once again, I had to participate. Like my previous list, I focused on characters that went on to inspire and influence future characters in science fiction and film. The list is a little different from my favorite characters. So once again, I'll provide both lists and explanations of why I picked who I picked.

Monday, July 22, 2013

I'm very excited about this year's show, and not just because my major painting is not yet done!(And I know I'm not the only one!)

Linnane Armstrong, who was one of our guest artists at the Froggwell Biennale last year, has completed work on two wonderful woodblock prints for this show. Here's what Linnane had to say about her work:

Valkyries - Second Sortie - is volume 2 () of Tenjin Hidetaka's series of Macross art books, with gorgeous illustrations of the mecha (variable fighters) appearing in the anime series.

Each illustration is printed on a full page spread, the color reproductions crisp and clean. Many of these illustrations were done back in the days of airbrush work; these days they would most probably be rendered in 3D.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Dynamite Entertainment proudly announces that they have acquired the rights to publish comic books based on the beloved science fiction anime, Robotech(R). In a unique sub-licensing arrangement with DC Entertainment and with the Harmony Gold USA, Dynamite Entertainment will publish a new series beginning with a Robotech / Voltron crossover event. This crossover marks the first time uniting the popular Robotech cast with the five lions of Voltron, a fan-favorite World Events Production property.

With "Pacific Rim" coming out in a couple of weeks and the marketing blitz hitting a crescendo, I think it's time to talk about mecha. The mecha genre, found primarily in Japanese media, covers stories about humanoid robots and machines, including mechanized battle armor, mechanical constructs, modified vehicles with battle capabilities, and your good old-fashioned battling robots. The Transformers are mecha, even though they're technically aliens from outer space, because they're living machines who have the ability to act like vehicles and other large mechanized objects. Iron Man is a borderline case, since his armor does give Tony Stark special enhancements, but traditional mecha tend to be more substantial machines that are piloted or operated.

I've noticed that there's been widespread confusion over the appeal of mecha in the American mainstream, as Japanese media remains an acquired taste. Why giant robots? Why building-sized machines and vehicles, often stylized to ridiculous extremes? Well, part of it's cultural, of course. Japan is famously an industry leader in the research and development of robotics, and use more of them than just about any other country in the world. Robots are also far more prevalent in Japan's popular media, with the Giant Robot genre emerging in kids' manga in the 1950s and 1960s. Several influential titles like "Mazinger Z" and "Tetsujin 28" (aka "Gigantor") seem to have kicked off the national love affair with giant, heroic, mechanical creatures. I think it's also worth remembering that Japan is home to the kaiju, the giant monsters like Godzilla and Mothra, and the same impulse that created them probably also had a hand in the robots getting supersized.

Friday, July 19, 2013

If you grew up in the late 70 s and early 80 slike a certain wee Catgirl didthen there's a real chance you too got to spend your Saturday Afternoons glued to the TV watching the plethora of Japanese "Kaiju" films that played endlessly here in the US for the entertainment of children (and more than a few adults, no doubt . ) with a day off from school and faaaar too much free time on their hands. GodzillaGameraRodanMothraKing Ghidora . a seemingly endless horde of giant "rubber suited" monsters whose main mission in life seemed to be to pop out of someplace, be it the depths of the ocean, some arctic deep freeze, or the cold endless void of outer space to find a city and kick the living crap out of it while smashing the mightiest of human armies who were powerless to do much more than even slow them down. Ahhhh the memories

Well now . it's been**ahem** a "few" years since wee lil' Miyuki gleefully squealed with joy at the apocalyptic antics of all those rubber suited monsters as they stomped and kicked the freaking beejeebits out of Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama and all points east, but thankfully it seems, this wee Catgirl wasn't the only one enjoying the guilty pleasure of watching that mayhem all those years ago. Our blogging friend Stephen aka Elpeevio of remembers those old films fondly as welland when the new Blockbuster Sci-Fi film "PACIFIC RIM" promised to give all us nostalgic monster movie fans a heapin' helping of Kaiju fun, it wasn't hard to convince a crazy Kitten like me that Carolyn and I needed a "Movie Night" out for a change so that we might do another "Dual Review" on this one.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

The great San Diego Comic Con is underway and all sorts of news is spilling out.Here's a weird bit - Dynamite Publishing is doing a crossover series of Voltron and Robotech.

On the face of it, this isn't so bad.Both series are about robots.Um that's about all they have in common really. This isn't quite like the very successful GI Joe/Transformers cross overs that have been going on for years - both of those properties have very similar settings, with one side of good guys fighting against altogether evil bad guys, with both sides having similar technology/gear/etc.Voltron's enemies are pretty much pure evil, and they fight giant robeasts.Robotech's enemies are usually only evil until exposed to human culture/singing and then eventually become allies.Especially in the case of Macross, which seems from the above picture where they're connecting the two.

As a kid, I was a massive fan of Robotech, the Americanized version of three Japanese animes.I still am a fan of Robotech, if only because meshing three completely different stories into a single, workable version is amazing, no matter what you think of the results.However, while Robotech has failed to ever produce much in the way of sequels (Shadow Chronicles is about it), the first part of the series, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, has had many follow-ups in Japan, a few of which have been released here in the states.

There's a little bit of weirdness with the original Macross.There's the series, which was extremely popular, and then there's a movie version called Macross: Do You Remember Love, which is essentially a condensed version of the storyline with all original (and insanely good) animation.It was released in a hilariously badly dubbed version as "Clash of the Bionoids" in the states, and eventually in the original Japanese format with subtitles.The funny thing is both the series and the movie are sort of considered cannon by the creator of Macross, Shoji Kawamori, who has said that the series is the story told as a series, the movie is the story told as a movie, and they are both equal.This has an impact on the sequels, as they often mix and match elements of the two origins however works best for them.

Manufacturer's Description "Everyone embrace each other! To the far end of of the Galaxy!" From the anime 'Macross Frontier' comes a Nendoroid of one of the heroines, Ranka Lee! She is wearing the 'Seikan Hikou' outfit seen in the second opening of the TV series as well as in the final episode! She comes with three expressions including a shouting expression, a singing expression and a winking expression to recreate her trademark 'Kira' pose.

Other optional parts include a microphone and various other exchangeable parts to pose her during one of her live performances. A special stage part is also included which can be attached to her standard base for her to perform on! It's time for the 'Super-Dimensional Cinderella' to shine on the Nendoroid stage!

In an announcement that makes many fans wildest dream come true, DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT is going to publish a Robotech/Voltron crossover. With Pacific Rim still crushing it in theaters, Giant-Mech lovers may be having the single greatest summer of their life. Here is how it was announced and some art to go with it.

Dynamite Entertainment proudly announces that they have acquired the rights to publish comic books based on the beloved science fiction anime, Robotech(R).In a unique sub-licensing arrangement with DC ENTERTAINMENT and with the HARMONY GOLD USA, Dynamite Entertainment will publish a new series beginning with a Robotech / Voltron crossover event.This crossover marks the first time uniting the popular Robotech cast with the five lions of Voltron, a fan-favorite WORLD EVENTS PRODUCTION property.

So with in full swing and nominations locked in, we at Anime Instrumentality believe it's a good time to release what we thought were good additions to the tournament ranks and the rationale behind our nominations. With so many songs at our fingertips, narrowing our choices down to a paltry fifteen proved to be quite the challenge! But narrow down we did, and so, here's a list of songs we thought were notable and ended up on our list, even if they might not have made the final cut into the tournament proper:

The main mecha, designed by legend Shoji Kawamori (Transformers, Armored Core, Patlabor, Macross) of the "Genesis of Aquarion" TV anime series joins the ranks of the Super Robot Chogokin line-up. A new Aquarion TV anime series, "Aquarion EVOL" has just been announced. The Super Robot Chogokin Solar Aquarion will capture all the detail of the mecha as seen in the original anime. Figure set features Solar Sword and effect parts for Solar Sword, as well as parts for replication of "Mugen (Infinity) Punch" and two sets of left/right interchangeable hand parts. High-precision sculpt includes details such as three vector machines. Figure employs diecast, ABS, PVC, and POM parts for enhanced detail, durability and range of movement.Full Post

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Hello, class. You may have noticed that I've been watching Sailor Moon around these parts. But how do you think this show really fared, overall?

Lots of people regard Sailor Moon as being, quite simply, the best anime in the world. It's right up there on its lofty perch, right next to Dragonball, Pokemon, and Naruto. No, I'm not getting into that shit either. My point is that just because something is incredibly popular, that does not make it good (see: Naruto, trolololol).

Back in the early 80s, when I lived in Chicago, I became a regular Japanese animation geek. Initially, I was most drawn to Leiji Matsumoto's creations, such as SPACE CRUISER YAMATO, SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK, GALAXY EXPRESS 999, QUEEN MILLENNIUM, and so forth, but during that period, there was an explosion of anime involving robot mecha -- MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM, SUPER DIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS, FANG OF THE SUN DOUGRAM, ORGUSS, and scads of others. Some of these, particularly the TV series MACROSS (which, combined with the series SOUTHERN CROSS and GENESIS CLIMBER MOSPEADA, found its way to our shores under the title ROBOTECH) and the movie MACROSS: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE? turned me into a regular robot mecha fan boy.

Over the years, my interest in such things dwindled, but when word of PACIFIC RIM surfaced a while back, and I saw the images of hardware designs that weren't just anime-influenced but were in every respect Japanese science-fiction mecha, I had to sit up and take notice all over again. Add giant monsters to the formula, and the old dude is all fired up about going to the movies.

(), literally "painful car", is a for an fad of individuals decorating the bodies of theirwith fictional characters of , , or(especially or ). These characters are predominately "" female. The decorations usually involve paint schemes and stickers. Automobiles are called itasha, while similar andare called ITANSHA () and ITACHARI (), respectively.

Tokusatsu. That's the word the Japanese use to describe a live action series that has lots of special effects in it and are aimed mostly at kids. If you follow things like anime and manga and Japanese series, you will know that tokusatsu is used to describe the Ultraman, Super Sentai (Power Rangers for the uninitiated) and Kamen Rider series.

I am sure most will be familiar with Ultraman. Rubber suit monsters and model city blocks that get destroyed during fights. We know that the monsters are men in rubber suits. We know that those buildings are little more than cardboard models but heck did we have fun with each episode. Boy did we cheer when Ultraman finally gets the upper hand and unleash his famous specium ray to finish off the monster. Yes. Imagination. That's what the tokusatsu series appealed to in the audience. It's like saying : forget about looking real or logic, just enjoy the simple story line, fights and special effects. And it's a testament to the success of that premise when even today kids still cheer for a brand new generation of Ultra heroes.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Evan Minto, also known as Vampt Vo, went from wide-eyed newbie anime fan to hardened cynic in just over ten years in the game. Nowadays he serves as the editor-in-chief of anime, manga, and video game blog , writes reviews for , and goes to a heckuva lot of conventions (he was even Con Chair for Genericon 2013). If you can handle an overdose of bad puns and nerd snark, go ahead and follow his exploits on Twitter @.If I may be so bold, I'd like to suggest for a moment that 1998 is the most important year in the 1990s--at least in terms of its effect on American anime fandom. Sure, 1992 introduced Sailor Moon, and 1995 brought us game-changers like Evangelion and Ghost in the Shell, but 1998 is notable for something other than just its spectacular list of memorable series (and boy oh boy, is it a spectacular list).

That's because in 1998, anime was finally cool. The only problem was that Japanese otaku didn't know it yet.

I recently finished both seasons of AKB0048, a show that I completely fell in love with and has become one of my favorite shows of all time, for some particular reasons. It's a show based on the real-life Japanese idol group AKB48, but director Shoji Kawamori, mastermind behind the Macross series, has taken these idols into space and outfitted them with mechas and sci-fi weapons for a grand space adventures.

I'm unequivocally late in posting these, but as the adage goes, "It's better late than never!". So, here are some of the signatures that I was fortunate enough to acquire at last year's Anime Festival Asia 2012.

found some good loot at anime expo...i overpaid a little on a couple of them, but i found a really hard to find die-cast model of for a good price...a quick check on amazon and ebay only had a few matches and were listed at much higher than what i paid...some of my earliest memories after moving to the states are of watching galaxy express and

Thursday, July 11, 2013

I'm unequivocally late in posting these, but as the adage goes, "It's better late than never!". So, here are some of the signatures that I was fortunate enough to acquire at last year's Anime Festival Asia 2012.

Suisei no Gargantia is a science fiction series not about space aliens or a technological regressed Earth, but rather about rediscovery. It's about rediscovering humanity, self, and life and one of many things that make it such a palatable title in spite of its many shortcomings.

Welcome to the first blogpost in a new series here on FWS that is all about military science fiction toys! While this will not appear as frequently as Forgotten Classics or the Armory, but I think is worth covering a few of the important military sci-fin toy lines. While there were many war-toys devoted to capturing young boys hearts and their parents' cash in the 1980's, none sparked my desire more to throw my money at the toy company like a drunk rapper and his posse in Vegas strip-club, than the 1986 Matchbox/Harmony Gold official ROBOTECH toyline.This blogpost was much more work than original intended, and a labor of love because of my history and emotions associated with ROBOTECH. What you are seeing here is two months of writing and research. There will be more MSF toys blogposts in the future devoted to: the LJN DUNE toys, STARCOM, Battletech and ALIENS. So, if you have a military sci-fi toyline you wanna see FWS cover, send it to me! If you liked this new blog-series than let me know!

found some good loot at anime expo...i overpaid a little on a couple of them, but i found a really hard to find die-cast model of for a good price...a quick check on amazon and ebay only had a few matches and were listed at much higher than what i paid...some of my earliest memories after moving to the states are of watching galaxy express and

Friday, July 5, 2013

Crunchyroll NewsShe made her debut as a professional singer/voice actress for Ranka Lee in Macross Frontier in 2008. Tamayura - Aggressive is the second TV season of the Tamayura anime series, following the OVA in 2010 and the 1st TV season in 2011. ...

Thursday, July 4, 2013

So, when the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Hyogo Prefecture hosts a 'MACROSS THE MUSEUM' exhibit starting June 28th, it makes connection to draw the connection between always musical Macross and Princess Knight. The exhibit will feature ...

TAKARAZUKA, Hyogo Prefecture--Fans of the anime series "Macross" will get the chance to "step into" the futuristic sci-fi robot world when an exhibition dedicated to the series gets under way here this summer. The "Macross: The Museum" exhibition will ...

The 26 episodes TV anime series with two seasons (13 episodes each) was produced by Shouji Kawamori (Macross series, Earth Maiden Arjuna, Aquarion) as chief director. The prize set includes the anime girls' Chibi Kyun Chara deformed figures and ...

The exhibit includes "the legendary diva Lynn Minmay's photo album," a life-size VF-1 variable fighter cockpit, a display of about 30 smaller 1/60 Valkyrie replicas, and costumes and microphones of the divas from Minmay to Macross Frontier 's Sheryl ...

creator Shoji Kawamori ( Macross , Escaflowne , Aquarion ) and the rest of the production team behind The Fool "multi-dimensional" project announced the voice cast and more details about the project's first work, the stage play Nobunaga the Fool .